Meet Laurie and Co, four lads who together make Chew Magna, an indie quartet from Manchester who have gradually been building up both momentum as well as a fan base following. Like so many other bands out there, they have had their ups and downs and the road ahead to rock bliss certainly presented them with its challenges. Interestingly taking their name directly from a map they look forward to bringing both their music, and self-titled album to a venue near you.
“It’s quite an interesting record in terms of the variety of styles, its primarily indie rock with pronounced influences of style”
How did you guys first get together?
We knew each other from previous bands / the Manchester music scene in the 00s and early 10s. Our previous bands played together and we would see each other at bigger shows etc
In the time you’ve been together as a band how has the journey been so far?
We are the classic Covid casualty band.
We’ve known each other around the Manchester scene for years and years – we were all on the same label at one point (Red Deer Club) but in separate bands – and we finally got in a room to jam.
We’d built up a decent rep as a live outfit and stuck out an EP in 2019, which we recorded as live at The White Hotel in Salford. Great venue and a place that suited our live sound.
We’d all but got an album recorded and mixed when the first lockdown hit. We looked to keep the energy alive through the forced shut down by sharing clips of ideas and working on them independently.
We’ve still got a big library of work ready to work on but we knew we had to get this debut album out before moving on. As with everything this side of the pandemic, it’s taken longer than we hoped to get this collection of songs out in to the world.
We can’t wait for people to hear it.
What music where you listening to in your earlier years?
We all loved guitar music as kids/teens and we were in high school during the Kerrang TV/minidisc era, so I guess it was standard stuff like Nirvana, Greenday, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Radiohead as well as nu metal, garage rock revival and landfill indie stuff that was massive in those years too.
Which musical influences do you use for the bands?
80s/90s alt is our touch point – everything from Fugazi, Husker Du and Minute Men, to Pavement, MBV and Dinosaur Jr.
Chew Magna, what’s the story behind the band’s name?
Laurie saw it on a map and thought it sounded like a gnarly 90s influenced indie rock band!
Describe the band in 5 words
Loud energetic motoric alt rock
Now, you’re releasing your self-titled album, what can you tell us about it?
It’s quite an interesting record in terms of the variety of styles, its primarily indie rock with pronounced influences of kraut rock, post hardcore, shoegaze and punk. It’s also probably 75% instrumental – we were really influenced by two records: Open Your Heart by The Men and You’re Living All Over Me by Dinosaur Jr – they’re both records with long instrumental passages; the vocals come and go rather than always being the main focus of the songs.
How long did it take you to put it all together?
The album came together quickly. We wrote the main chunk over a few months and lobbed in a couple of newer songs during the recording / mixing process.
The writing and recording were the easy bit! The pandemic was the real challenge.
So, depending on how the vinyl format goes could it resume release on that format?
We always wanted out record on vinyl. In a digital world there is still a joy to having something tangible. Something we can hold in our hands as proof of the work.
We’re very grateful to have had the support to print up the run we have so we’ll see how it goes!
And will you be touring this with this record?
We’d love to play in Chew Magna village again!
Where can people check out your music?
Our album will be on all good streamers – along with our debut White Hotel EP
Spotify here:
You can preorder / buy the vinyl here:
